Many call centers use interactive voice response (IVR) systems to communicate with callers over the phone. An IVR system automates the calls, and can act in conjunction with or in place of live agents. Oftentimes, a caller is forced to navigate through tedious, annoying and difficult to understand voice menus that are prerecorded or computer-synthesized. IVR is sometimes criticized as being unhelpful and difficult to use due to poor design and lack of appreciation of the callers' needs. When the caller desires to speak to a live agent, the caller may nonetheless be forced to navigate through the voice menus or placed in a queue and experience a long wait time when no agent is immediately available. As a result, the caller oftentimes becomes frustrated and feels his or her right to speak to a live agent is being restricted. After all this, even if the live agent eventually becomes available, the caller may again experience frustration when the agent does not have adequate knowledge to address the caller's reason for the call.
It is desirable to have a system that improves its customers' experiences when contacting the call center, and at the same time reduces the operation cost of the call center. It is desirable to enable the customer to contact the call center or initiate a request for service by any method of communication, including, but not limited to, a call, a text message, a website or application, a voice interactive device or program such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri, and a voice interactive program in an automobile such as OnStar, among many other possibilities. It is desirable to allow the customer to begin an interaction with a call center solution based on IVR by leveraging a technology. There is a need for a system that minimizes the caller's interaction with the IVR, and determines the caller's cause for request for service as quickly as possible so as to direct the caller to a suitable live agent with reduced wait time.